A case of religious conversion of Dalit Hindus into Christianity has come to light from Nepal’s Dhanusha district. On Saturday (31st August 2024), members of Hindu organisations protested against religious conversion as they gathered in front of a local church. The protesters said that the Church was luring poor Hindus and converting them to Christianity.
After getting information about the protest, the Police rushed to the spot to avoid any untoward incident from happening and diffuse the tense situation. However, both sides continued engaging in heated arguments which prompted the Police to seal the Church which was running its activities without any legal documents. According to the protesters, the name of the main accused is Bharat Mahato, a Hindu by birth who later converted to Christianity.
The incident pertains to the Shaheed Nagar Municipality, Ward No. 3 of Nepal’s Dhanusha District. Most of the residents here hail from poor or middle-class backgrounds and among Hindus, the Dalit community has a substantial population. As per the information received, around 5 years ago a church was constructed in this ward. Within a short span, the poor people living in this neighbourhood started frequenting this church. Pastor Bharat Mahato runs this church.
OpIndia spoke with the National President of Nepal’s Hindu Samrat Sena, Rajesh Yadav. He said that for quite some time his organisation had been getting information about the activities taking place inside the church. The church was luring naive and poor Dalit Hindus in the name of prayer meetings. Later, it attempted to convert them into Christianity.
When the members of ‘Hindu Samrat Sena’ came to know about these activities, they started investigating them at their level.
Rajesh Yadav further told OpIndia that some of his colleagues kept an eye on the church. They also sent some persons inside the Church to attend these ‘prayers’. The attendees then found out that the church was distributing the Bibles and was instigating Dalits to leave Hinduism and become Christians. After gathering video and photographic evidence, the ‘Hindu Samrat Sena’ issued a memorandum to the local administration about 15 days ago in which they demanded the closure of this church.
However, no action was taken on this memorandum, and the church continued with its activities. Hindu Samrat Sena has sent all those videos and pictures to OpIndia.
Finally, on Saturday (31st August), public anger erupted and dozens of locals along with members of the Hindu Samrat Sena reached the church which is built in a mud house. After reaching there, they witnessed that even minor boys and girls were falling prey to this conspiracy of religious conversion in the name of prayer meetings.
The protesters raised chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ outside the church. Soon the police and other administrative officials reached the spot and examined the documents of the church.
During the investigation, they found out that the church was running without any legal documents. Consequently, the Police sealed the church. It is pertinent to note that Bibles and other literature related to Christianity have been recovered from the church. Meanwhile, the Hindu Samrat Sena has also given a memorandum to the administration demanding action against Pastor Bharat Mahato.
